Hot for Teacher
by lockedinabirdcage
Summary: AU! Due to renovation problems at Coolidge Middle School, Jess and all of the other teachers are forced to share classrooms for the school year. What happens when Jess has to share a classroom with a certain scruffy, grumpy, flannel-clad history teacher, Mr. Miller?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey roomfriends! This is my first fic and it's going to be a multi-chapter! I got the idea from the episode "Clavado en un Bar," and I love AU stories. I've got a lot of plans for this story, but since I'm busy with college stuff, I'll probably only have time to update once every week and a half or so. If anyone has any fic-writing tips or anything, feel free to message me on my tumblr, lockedinabirdcage! Hope you guys like it so far!**

 **-Haley (lockedinabirdcage)**

"Miss Day, I'm sorry, but due to budget cuts, this is the only option we have while the building is being renovated this year! Otherwise we're going to have to start laying off teachers, and you, unfortunately, would be one of the first to go due to seniority." Principal Foster stated matter-of-factly. He stood at the front of the teacher's lounge before all of the faculty members of Coolidge Middle School looking disgruntled at his employees.

Jessica Day sighed in exasperation and ran her hands through her long, dark hair, her brow furrowing in frustration. This was not how she was planning for the upcoming school year to go. Her classroom only fit about thirty kids as it was, and now her students would have to be sharing desks, and she would have to be sharing her classroom and her class time with another teacher.

She straightened up in her chair and smoothed her dress over her knees, letting her unceasing optimism take over her mind. Maybe it would be even better than last year—and last year, her students all passed the state tests with flying colors. Maybe she'd become best friends with the teacher she'd be sharing a room with. The more she thought about it, the more the idea began to appeal to her. She had always had a bit of a hard time making friends with the other teachers since she started teaching at Coolidge last year. She hadn't even met all of the faculty yet (none of them seemed to be interested in her Muffin Monday Mornings or her Jam-borees she'd organize).

She began to get excited thinking about all of the possibilities having another teacher and more students in the room. They could stay after school together and collaborate on lesson plans and grade assignments together over tea. They could bond over their lives and order Chinese food when they got backed up on work and had to stay after school for hours at a time. Maybe they would start hanging out outside of school and could knit together, craft together, or get drinks together and be each other's wing-women! With two teachers, they could teach the students in a more diverse way and end up helping the students more than if they only had one teacher.

Jess looked around the jam-packed teacher's lounge, wondering who her new partner-in-crime would be. As she looked through the crowd of women, her eyes landed upon the music teacher, Paul Genzslinger. _God, he's so hot,_ she thought, absentmindedly pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. What if I get paired with him? She hadn't even thought about if she got paired with someone like Paul! Her heart started beating faster thinking of how perfect it would be if she had to share a classroom with Paul. They could turn lessons into musicals to entertain the kids while they learn! They could eat lunch together in their classroom and throughout the year as they got closer and closer, Paul would eventually admit his feelings for her and they'd fall in love and—

"Miss Day? Jessica?" Principal Foster's stern voice shook her out of her daydream, startling her.

"Yes?" she said, blinking rapidly as she realized that while she had been so caught up thinking of her future teaching partner, she'd been staring at Paul the entire time. She felt her face heat up, as she realized everyone was staring at her. _Great. This totally isn't going to help me get any friends here, let alone a potential boyfriend._

Principal Foster cleared his throat, "I said, you will be sharing a classroom with Mr. Miller, one of our history teachers."

 _Mr. Miller? History teacher?_ As Principal Foster began to move on to the next agenda of the meeting, Jess raised her hand to ask why on earth she would be paired with a history teacher instead of another one of the English teachers. Coolidge Middle School was a pretty big public school in Los Angeles. Most of the families whose children attended it were not very well-off financially, and the school didn't get much funding, but there were several teachers for each subject between fifth and eighth grade. Jess saw no reason that she should get paired with some history teacher she didn't even know. She looked around the room, searching for whom Mr. Miller could be, considering there weren't exactly a ton of male teachers at Coolidge, when she saw a rugged, scruffy man in a flannel shirt stand up.

"Excuse me, Principal Foster, but can we back up the conversation for a second," the man she assumed was Mr. Miller, asked, his hands held outward in confusion and his eyebrows knotted together in annoyance. Principal Foster paused, raising his eyebrows questioningly and gestured for Mr. Miller to continue. "Now, nothing against Miss Day, here, but why the hell am I being holed up with her? Why not ole' Sue, the world history teacher? Or Mr. Smith, the ancient history teacher? Just—why not another history teacher?" Mr. Miller[HB1] began to sound a bit desperate, his voice becoming a bit shriller, "I mean, an English teacher? I'm not even convinced I know how to read; I've just memorized a lot of words."

Jess sat in her chair, perplexed[HB2] . _I was wondering the same thing, but what the heck is his problem? He's not sure he knows how to read? He sure seems a lot more hell-bent on getting out of rooming with me than I am…is he sweating through his shirt..?_

Principal Foster rolled his eyes, "Mr. Miller, all of the history teachers are doubled up, and all of the English teachers are doubled up; this is just how it turned out. A few classes are even tripled up! I figured it would be easier to collaborate an English and history class together as opposed to history and math or English and science, for that matter. Now, would you two stop interrupting me! You're lucky you only have to share a classroom with each other and not a third person. You'd think I was asking you to marry each other—you're worse than the kids in group projects! Now, if you'd let me continue: the school events coming up for September are…"

The rest of the faculty meeting proceeded uneventfully after the initial shock that all of the teachers would have to be sharing classrooms, with discussions over classroom rosters, bake sales, and the annual Coolidge Middle School winter formal. There was only one week left before school was supposed to start[HB3] .

As Jess walked out of the teacher's lounge after the meeting was dismissed, she walked down the hallway, trying to concentrate on finding her new classroom through the sounds of drilling, hammering, and construction workers yelling at each other. She tried to duck around a ladder that was taking up most of the hallway without disturbing the man on it, but being the klutz she is, she tripped into it, dropping the books she was carrying and almost knocking the man on the ladder off of it.

"Geez, lady, watch where ya' goin' would'ja?! I'm workin' up here!" The man yelled down at Jess, sneering at her as he steadied himself on the ladder that led up to a gaping hole in the ceiling of the hallway.

Jess gasped as she tried to gather up her papers and books that had slid all around and underneath the ladder, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, sir, I'm just trying to find my new classroom so I can start organizing it and-"

"Listen, lady, I don't care; I'm just here to do my job and you should go do your's instead'a talkin' my ear off," the construction worker raked his eyes up and down her body with no subtlety from atop the ladder, "but if you wanna talk my ear off after work back at my place, we could continue over a couple'a beers." he raised his eyebrows suggestively and winked at Jess, beginning to climb down the ladder.

Jess tried to hurry to get all of her papers so she could get out of there, but kept dropping them in her haste. _What a creep,_ she thought disgustedly, as she fumbled, dropping another book.

"Here, lemme help ya, dollface[HB4] …" the construction worker said in a low voice, as he reached the ground and began snaking an arm around Jess' waist, his hand moving down her hip to her thigh.

"Ugh, get off of me, I don't need your _help-_ " she said agitatedly, trying to push the man away, but he only tightened his grip on her.

"[HB5] Aye, ladies don't talk to the men like that where I come from, darlin', why don't 'ya—" he began to say, but was cut off by another voice.

"Hey pal, get your grubby hands off of her! What the hell, man?!"

It was Mr. Miller. He had just walked into this end of the hallway, holding a few books and a burrito. He strode over toward Jess and the construction worker who still had his arm around her and pushed him out of the way. He helped Jess up from the tiled floor, her papers and books spilling out of her arms again.

"Our room is that one right at the end of this hallway, 4D. Finish grabbing up the rest of your supplies on the floor and I'll take care of this clown." Mr. Miller said, nodding his head toward the principal's office and grabbing the construction worker by the vest.

"Oh, I see how it is; just have ya little boyfriend come to ya rescue. You women are so dramatic sometimes-" the construction worker started to say.

Mr. Miller started to drag the man down the hallway by the loops of his vest. "I'll be back to help you start setting up the room, Miss Day."

Jess stood bewildered in the middle of the hallway beside the gigantic ladder with all of her papers and books strewn across the floor. _What the hell just happened? Did that seriously just happen in a middle school?_ she thought, making a mental note to propose having an assembly on sexual harassment for the students and faculty this year.

Jess finally gathered up all of her belongings and continued walking down the hall, looking for room 4D. It was the last door on the left. She opened the door, went and set her belongings down on the desk and peered around the room. The desks and chairs were disorganized, the walls and bulletin boards were bare, and the white board had crude doodles drawn all over. _It's a good thing I brought my heavy duty expo markers and erasers!_ After surveying the amount of work that would have to go into the room within the next week, along with estimating how long it would probably take Jess to write out her lesson plans for the first week of school, she dug into her craft bag to find her heavy duty white board erasers and began to work on getting rid of the phalluses on the board when Mr. Miller walked into the room.

He walked in, set his things on the desk by Jess,' sat down in the chair and began stuffing his face with a burrito.

Jess cleared her throat, "Uh, thanks for…helping me back there, Mr. Miller, that was really kind of you."

"Call me Nick." he replied between bites of his burrito, "It's no problem, Miss Day, honestly, that guy was an ass. I took him to Principal Foster and told him about what happened. He said he'd talk to the head of construction about it so that nothing like that happens again, especially since the kids are coming back next week and the construction workers will be working on the school all year."

Jess turned and smiled gratefully at him. "Well, thank you, Nick. It was really gallant of you."

Nick looked at her with a chunk of salsa hanging off of his lip and scrunched up his eyebrows. Jess tried not to laugh at his face. _He looks like a turtle._ she thought, stifling her laughter.

"Gallant? Isn't that what a horse does?"

Jess glanced at him in disbelief and confusion, "Are you talking about…galloping..?" she asked. "I said 'gallant,' like brave or heroic."

Nick nodded, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, "Oh, so, like a knight, then[HB6] ?"

She laughed, "Yeah, sure, like a knight."

Jess finished cleaning off the white board and went to start straightening up the students' desks. Nick finished his burrito ( _very_ messily, by the way) and helped Jess set up the room. Once the desks and chairs were in order, Nick sat down at the front of the room and put his feet on the desk. Jess began rummaging through her crafting bag, pulling out mason jars full of various colors of glitter, yarn, construction paper, scissors, knitting needles, paints, pencils, and markers. Nick looked at the pile of crafting supplies dumbfounded and then at Jess' craft bag.

"Is….that…the bag the grandma in Halloweentown had?" he asked quietly, "Are you a witch, Jessica?" his tone became very serious as his gaze met her's. "Because I don't know if I can share a room with—"

Jess cut him off enthusiastically, "No, of course not! This is my crafting bag!" she added laughing, "I can't exactly bring my crafting table or even my portable crafting table to school since there isn't enough room for either of them in the classroom, so I brought my crafting bag!"

Nick began to examine the glitter, picking up a mason jar full of shiny bright blue confetti, turning it around in his hands to reflect the light, "Why do you have this stuff in _mason jars?"_

"Aren't they cute? I saw the idea on pinterest and I just _had_ to update my glitter supply since they were just in the containers I bought them in." she said picking up the jar of gold glitter.

Nick set the jar he was holding down on the desk. "Mason jars are for canning peppers and selling moonshine out of your back door, not _glitter,_ Jess." he chuckled. "What are you even gonna do with all of this stuff, Jess? These kids are in seventh grade; there's no real reason for them to be making crafts in an English or history class anymore."

Jess looked at him appalled and gasped in mock horror, "Nicholas, art benefits the _soul._ Crafting relieves _stress._ Our job is to shape the minds of the future of our society! To cultivate learning in a wonderful, loving environme—"

Nick rolled his eyes at her and cut her off. "Jess. We're here to _teach_ them how to take state tests and to ignore their bullies so that they can build character, so they don't grow up to be assholes. Education isn't a right; it's a privilege. There's no need for _glitter_ and… _giant needles?"_ He picked up her knitting needles and looked at Jess like she was crazy. "Oh, man, I _did_ get roomed with a witch!"

Jess grabbed her the needles out of Nick's hands aggressively, "Those are my _knitting needles,_ thank you very much, _Miller."_ she huffed in annoyance, "Education is the most noble profession in the world! Our students are the future! They need nurtured and encouraged. They need our guidance. We need to be a ray of sunshine in their cloudy day—or maybe a rainbow, if you will."

"These kids need to be shown how the _real world_ is, _Day."_ Nick replied, "L.A. will eat these kids alive if we make 'em think life is just gonna consist of singing kumbuya in a knitting circle while they eat your frilly little muffins and read Hairy Otter."

" _Harry Potter,_ Nick, it's only the most well-known young adult fantasy series about a wizard _ever._ Are you _serious?"_

Nick pointed at Jess accusingly, "I knew you were a witch!" he yelled.

Jess rolled her eyes at him and started gathering up her crafting supplies, "I'm going to go make a bulletin board of famous authors and it's going to be _covered_ in glitter from my mason jars, whether you like it _or not,_ Miller." Jess flipped her hair as she turned and walked to the other side of the room with her craft bag. _What a grump_ , she mumbled under her breath. She glanced at Nick over her shoulder. He was sitting at the large wooden desk in the front of the room, going through papers for lesson plans and writing notes down, probably, she assumed. Jess sighed and began humming to herself while she started working on sketching a picture of Emily Dickinson for her bulletin board. _I'll win him over,_ she thought, _we'll be great friends by the end of this school year, I'm sure of it._

With that thought in mind, Jess continued crafting as Nick sat on the other side of the room, writing in his leather-bound notebook.

 _Yes,_ he thought triumphantly, _finally done with the first chapter._

Nick glanced at Jess across the room, busy at work on her board of famous authors and self-consciously tried to hide that he was staring at her. She laid on her stomach on the floor, her feet absent-mindedly swinging back and forth in the air like one of those girls in cliché teen movie. Her red sundress was draped over the middle of her thighs and Nick shook his head to keep himself from getting distracted by her long legs. He made a note in his book to add that to her description in his book.

His mind drifted back to the meeting this morning when he tried to make it seem like he was appalled at the thought of being stuck in a room with Jessica Day all year. He had been sure any of the other teachers could see the sweat soaking through the back of his shirt. " _Just talk to her, Nick,"_ He remembered his roommate, Schmidt, saying to him, _"I'll even talk you up to her next time I'm over at Cecelia's if you want. I mean, the woman wears pajama sets and knits! There aren't exactly a line of suitors banging down her door to bang her if you know what I mean. You can't just keep watching her at school every day and then hiding behind the nearest trash can when she turns toward you. It's creepy, man."_

Nick groaned in frustration over his notebook. Jess looked up from her construction paper, her piercing blue eyes wide in question. Nick cleared his throat loudly, "Uh, n-nothing. Just, uh, lesson plans, ya know?" He was already sweating through his shirt again at the tiniest lie. He laughed nervously, hoping that she wouldn't press him on it. She nodded and turned her attention back to her project. Nick let out a sigh of relief and looked at Jess across the room.

 _God, I had no idea she was just as stubborn as me. She's going to hate me by the end of the year! What am I doing?_

Nick looked down at his notebook and reread the last sentence he wrote, wondering how he would ever get to the end of this story.

 _"_ _Jessica Night was the whole reason Pepperwood got out of bed in the morning, and he'd be damned if he was going to let her get away."_


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys! Sorry for the late-ish update. I know I said I wanted to have this chapter done by Monday, but it ended up taking me a bit longer due to school and work and everything. I'm thinking that it's usually going to take me about 1 1/2 weeks to 2 weeks to write each chapter, so I hope that's okay with everyone! This chapter is a little more serious, but also kind of fluffy. I hope you like it! Thanks for all the support with this story; it honestly means the world to me!**

 **-Haley :)**

 **P.S. let me know if you have any ideas for future chapters! I'd love to take the fandom's ideas into account, especially since I'm writing this as I go.**

Jess stood in her kitchen later that night, powdered sugar and bits of icing glazed over her cheeks and nose. Splotches of cupcake batter were splattered all across her red apron. She had her favorite Taylor Swift album playing ( _Red,_ of course!) as she swayed around the kitchen island, holding a mixing bowl in her arms.

"Jess, are you _sure_ you need to bake _three_ different kinds of cupcakes for this guy that you _literally_ just met _yesterday?"_ Cece sat at the counter, suspiciously eyeing the batch of cupcakes cooling on the counter by the sink and the batter Jess was mixing.

Jess turned her IPod speakers up as she started to pour the yellow batter into the cupcake tin, "Cece, the day I agree with that statement will be the day Taylor Swift finally releases the ten-minute version of "All Too Well," and you and I both know that is sadly never going to happen."

Cece rolled her eyes and reached over to turn the speakers down again. She stuck her index finger in the batter and Jess swatted her hand away, "These are for Mr. Miller, Cece, aren't you on some crazy butt diet or something right now anyway?" Jess asked as Cece licked the batter off of her fingers.

Cece sighed, "Jess, I haven't booked a gig in a month. My last commercial was for a wrinkle removing cream and _I_ was the _before_ picture. I don't know what I'm doing with my life anymore. I need your cupcakes," she paused to wipe her hands and mouth on a napkin, "Jess, you haven't even baked these and I think they might be your best yet."

Jess grabbed the cupcake tin, put it in the oven, and set a timer for twenty minutes. As she grabbed her frosting and pastry decorating accessories, she looked over at Cece. "Ceec, have you thought about maybe trying to do something else, other than modeling?" she asked quietly. The subject of Cece's career had been a touchy subject between the two of them over the years. Jess didn't approve of all of the weird diets, crazy parties, and sketchy agents sometimes but it had always been what Cece wanted to do the most—and she was good at it. Ever since Jess had filled in for her at a shoot after a particularly nasty hangover when Cece had been at her old agency, she had a newfound respect for everything that supermodels had to put up with at their jobs. It wasn't Jess' cup of tea, but she knew Cece was tough, beautiful, and confident enough to succeed in it.

Cece sighed, "I know I can't really stay in modeling forever, but I've never _done_ anything else! Who's going to hire a thirty-five-year-old model with no job experience anywhere?"

Jess set her cupcake decorating supplies down on the counter and took a sip of her tea from her favorite mug thoughtfully, mulling over the options she thought Cece had, which, even Jess had to admit, were slim. "Well, you've been dating Schmidt for quite a while now, and you did say that you two might want to take that next step…maybe since he has a steady big-shot career of his own, he could help you out." Jess' eyes grew wider than usual and she started talking more enthusiastically, "Awe! Maybe _this_ will be your first big step toward the next level of your relationship! You guys can have a new level of intimacy from him helping you change careers and working together to do it and it'll help you start creating a life together!" Jess was smiling from ear to ear now, "Oh, Cece, this is wonderful! You should seriously talk to Schmidt about it." Jess took another sip of her tea, "Maybe you wouldn't even have to stop modeling altogether. Maybe you could do the more business-y part of modeling, since you've been in the industry for so long, 'ya know?"

Cece smiled slightly and leaned over to hug Jess tightly. "You always know how to make me feel better. Thanks, Jess, and hey," she pulled away and looked her in the eyes, "don't worry about Mr. Miller. I'm sure he'll come around. He'd be crazy not to like you _or_ your cupcakes."

Cece stepped away from Jess to check her phone for the time. "And speaking of Schmidt, I told him I'd come over for dinner tonight. He wants to make me curry vindaloo." she said laughing.

Jess laughed along with her, "To huevos rancheros and Maya Angelou!" she sang with much more gusto than Cece cared for.

She looked at Jess and rolled her eyes, smiling at her. "I can always count on you to make me feel better and then work a showtune into it somewhere." she said grabbing her purse off of the island counter. "I'll be home later. Maybe. Don't wait up." she said and glanced over at the oven and back to Jess. "And don't spend all night baking for a guy you're not dating, please. I'll see you later, babe!"

Jess heard the door to their apartment close and she took out a deep breath and looked over at her cupcake timer. She still had about five minutes left on it and decided to start decorating her chocolate ones that had more than likely cooled by now.

 _Pshht. Who cares if I spend all night baking for a guy I'm not dating?_ Jess strategically started to put hazelnut-flavored frosting roses on the chocolate cupcakes while humming the opening chords to the next song that came on her IPod. " _Took a deep breath in the mirror, he didn't like it when I wore high heels, but I do…_ "

"Nicholas, are you mad? Do you want this woman or not?" Schmidt asked Nick as he seasoned the raw chicken breasts on the counter. "You can't just yell at her on the first day and accuse her of _witchcraft!"_ Schmidt tore his eyes away from seasoning the beginnings of his curry masterpiece and looked Nick in the eyes, his face turning serious and slightly annoyed. "Well, you have found my flabbergast button, and guess what? You've pushed it. You mean to tell me you went out of your way to make sure you got roomed with her, going so far as to bribe the principal with free booze at the Griffin for the school year," Schmidt paused to turn to check the potatoes and peppers on the stove, "and what do you do when you're finally alone with her? When she finally notices _you?"_ Schmidt turned back to Nick, looking at him incredulously. "You criticize her school supplies, her baking, her teaching ideals, and her _crafting._ " Schmidt pointed at Nick accusingly, "You are the _dumbest_ boy in school!"

Nick sat across the kitchen island from Schmidt with his journal, his head in his hands leaning on the counter, and groaned. "I don't even know what I'm doing. It's like, she can be so irritating, but she looks like a flower and smells like cinnamon! She's always tartin' around in these little dresses. With sparkles on them! I am a man, Schmidt, I am a _human man!"_ Nick ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. "I don't know what's wrong with me. I've had maybe two conversations with her in my life, but I've always noticed her since she started working here." Nick took a long swig of his Heisler and set it back down with a thud, "She's the only one who cares about the kids. She's the only one who tries to do anything to make their shitty lives a little better—the only one who tries to make that shitty school better[HB1] ."

Schmidt nodded thoughtfully as he sprinkled the whole spice cabinet into the pot of potatoes on the stove. He turned back to the chicken breasts, took a large knife out of the drawer of the island, and began to cut them into fours. "Look man, I don't know what to tell you that I haven't already. Just don't be a douche to her." Schmidt's eyes met Nick's as he continued to expertly cut up the raw chicken without pausing. "And you know that means something coming from me. Jess is like a cartoon-drawing of a best friend an eight-year-old would make. She's not hard to charm, but she's a good one, honestly. It's not hard to tell from the times I've been around her. As long as you don't _actively self-sabotage_ your relationship as co-teachers this year, you'll have nothing to worry about, no matter how much of an imbecile you can be. Jess is one of the good ones, and as much as I hate to admit it, so are you, whether you believe it or not. Now, if you're done being a pubescent Nickelodeon protagonist, I have bigger news than the cute new girl at school." Schmidt took a deep breath and paused after sticking the chicken into the pot with the potatoes and peppers, "Nicholas, I'm going to ask Cecelia to marry me." He couldn't help but grin while he said it.

Nick gaped at Schmidt. The first thought that came to his mind was the image of an awkward, obese eighteen-year-old Schmidt in a candy-striper uniform, pining after the hot nurse. Now here he was, nearly seventeen years later, a ripped, marketing success planning on marrying a supermodel. Then there was Nick: having lost passion for his job, pining after a girl whom he barely knows (and screwing it up) and living in the same little loft with Schmidt and Winston, who were both going to be moving on to the next stage of their lives with their girlfriends/fiancées before he knew it. Nick blinked a few times to shake the feelings of inadequacy and insecurity from his mind. He focused on Schmidt. It had been a long time since he had seen him so genuinely happy. Nick smiled, his eyes crinkling at the sides. Schmidt was his best friend after all. He couldn't help but be happy for him.

"Wow," Nick let out a deep breath, "Married, huh?" he chuckled, "Is there a bug going around the loft or something?" Nick gestured toward their other roommate, Winston's room, who had just recently gotten engaged to his girlfriend and police partner, Aly.

Schmidt walked over to Nick and put his hand on his shoulder, "I'm not going to ask her quite yet, but I bought a ring and I'm just waiting for the right time now." He grinned at Nick and went to check on the curry.

Nick looked back at his notebook that he had been neglecting since he had gotten home. He was only a few pages into the second chapter of _The Pepperwood Chronicles._ He scratched his head, trying to think of what to write next.

 _Julius Pepperwood looked through the back alleys, the store windows, the parks—still he could find no trace of Ms. Night. He buttoned his trench coat, a shiver running down his spine at the thought of not being able to find her. He sat down on a bench outside of the library, staring into the sunset, a glum expression on his face. Julius wrung his hands together and pulled out the picture he kept of her in his wallet. The sun was starting to set, turning the clouds into cotton candy. He sighed deeply. He knew he'd lose her sooner or later._

"Hey, Nick?" Schmidt's voice startled him. Nick looked up to see Schmidt carrying his curry dish to the table. After setting it down, he turned to look directly at him, "Jess would be lucky to have you. Just don't be in your head so much about it all. Not every girl is Caroline—especially Jess. Believe me."

"Thanks, man." Nick replied earnestly and looked back to his notebook.

 _Losing her didn't mean that he wouldn't fight to get her back, though-Pepperwood was sure about that._

The next morning, Jess walked into school much more cheerfully than she had the day before. With a basket of cupcakes in tow, along with her laptop case, purse, and craft bag, she strode into her classroom confidently, although it looked more awkward than confident with her arms so full. _There's no way I'm going to let Miller sour my mood today,_ she thought as she set down the bundles in her arms on the desk.

As she sat down at the desk in the front of the room, she began to eat a strawberry cupcake with chocolate icing. _Who cares if it's seven-thirty a.m? Not this girl._ She began humming to herself and turned on her Spotify playlist on her phone on shuffle.

" _I'd like to rest my heavy head tonight, on a bed of California stars. I'd like to lay my weary bones tonight, on a bed of California stars…"_

Jess started singing along quietly as she set her cupcake down on a napkin and took out her folder of lesson plans and started to work on her plan for next Tuesday's sixth grade class on the book, _Walk Two Moons_ by Sharon Creech. She had read it when she was in middle school and she figured it would make for a good first book report for the year for the students. She wondered if Nick might want to collaborate on their lessons. She made a mental note to ask Nick how much he knows about Native American history.

She stopped singing when she heard a throat clear. Jess looked up from her lesson plans startled, her eyes even wider than they already were, and her hand shot to her heart. Nick stood in the doorway holding a few folders, a laptop case, and two coffees. His dark hair was a bit tussled and he had a light shadow of stubble on his face. His eyes looked a bit sleepy, like he'd woken up late but didn't really mind. The sleeves on his button-up were rolled up to his elbows, showing off the slight definition of his biceps. He looked at Jess, an amused grin on his face. _He's actually kind of handsome when he's not insulting my teaching style,_ she thought absently.

Jess ran a hand nervously through the ends of her hair, "Oh my God, Nick, you scared the daylights out of me," she laughed.

Nick walked over to the desk and set one of the coffees down in front of Jess and looked at her smugly, "Daylights? What are you, an old-timey movie starlet?" he chuckled, "I, uh, got you a coffee on my way," Nick scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably, "I didn't know how you take your coffee, but I got it with crème and sugar, I hope that's okay. I just drink mine black, so I wasn't really sure how much to ask for," he rambled and then cleared his throat, "I figured I should make a better impression than yesterday, you know, since we're going to be teaching together all year."

Jess beamed at him sweetly, "Thank you, Nick, that was very kind of you," their eyes lingered on each other for a second too long. Jess' crystal blue irises mesmerizing Nick, his pupils dilating a bit. Jess blinked rapidly and shook her head slightly, "Uh, I made cupcakes. I was just baking last night and thought you might like some," she said trying to sound nonchalant, and smiled, "There's chocolate with hazelnut frosting, strawberry with chocolate frosting, and vanilla with vanilla frosting, if you want any."

Nick gestured at the half-eaten cupcake on the desk, "Cupcakes for breakfast? Hell yeah," he eagerly grabbed a chocolate hazelnut one, "Thanks, Jess," He crammed the cupcake in his mouth, "Oh my god, can you bake for class every day?" he sounded muffled with his mouth full.

Jess laughed heartily at him and pointed at his face, "You've got some frosting on your nose, Nick," she handed him a napkin, "Maybe not every day, but I'll be sure to bake a cake if you do a unit on Marie Antoinette."

Nick wiped the frosting off of his nose, but there was still a little smudge of it on the tip of it and the corner of his mouth. He set down one of his notebooks and began quickly scrawling haphazardly onto a page, "I'm making a note so I can hold you to that." he chuckled, "We've got to get through the entire Renaissance first, though."

Jess giggled quietly, "You still have frosting on you," Nick wiped his face again, but the frosting was still there, "Here," she said and grabbed another napkin and dabbed at the traces of hazelnut icing on his skin. She could tell he was holding his breath the entire time. His eyes watched her intently, as if he was trying to keep himself calm. She couldn't read his suddenly stoic face. _Wait, is it weird to wipe frosting off of your coworker's face when they can't? It's not that weird, right?_ she thought as she leaned back, crumbling up the napkin in her hand. She cleared her throat, "There," she whispered.

Nick chortled after a moment, breaking the tension, and Jess laughed along with him and they settled into a comfortable silence. They shared the desk as they worked on their lesson plans and snacked on a cupcake or two every now and then.

 _Maybe this year won't be so bad after all,_ Jess thought, looking over at Nick. He sat hunched over the same notebook from the day before, deep in thought as he took a sip of his coffee.

 _Done._ Nick thought triumphantly as he took a sip of his now lukewarm coffee. He flipped through the pages in his notebook, feeling accomplished, having finished the second chapter of the first installment of _The Pepperwood Chronicles._ He glanced over at Jess, hard at work on next week's lesson plans, her raven curls spilling over the page she was furiously writing on, like the ink from her pen. Nick made a note in his journal under the list of ways to describe various parts of Jess for the descriptions of Jessica Night.

 _Hair: shiny, raven-colored, probably silky and soft like….silk?_

He flipped back to his last page and reread it to make sure it made sense.

 _Pepperwood walked into the mystery section of the library on the fourth floor. He hid behind a shelf and peeked between the books and finally spotted her. There she stood, quietly singing to herself as she browsed the books. In a post-zombie world, not many people used libraries anymore. Most of them, including this one, were abandoned after the epidemic took hold of New Orleans._

 _Jessica Night, of course, still used the libraries. She always told Julius that all the dust on those abandoned books just made them smell better than they already did._

 _He stared at her, the sun's rays coming through the window behind her, making the dust mites in the air float around her like stardust, as if she were an angel. Pepperwood felt all the air in the room disappear, as if it were suckerpunched out of his lungs, like stepping out of a spaceship. Her red lips shone and her eyes lit up when she spied him through the bookshelf. They were like two astronauts, the books separating them like the glass of helmets. They were content to just look through the books at each other for a few moments, soaking up the silence of the lonely space._

 _"_ _Are you going to come over here, or are you just going to ogle me all day?" Jessica asked giggling. Her laugh ripped through the quietness of the room like a sunrise breaking through the dark to wake up the world._

 _Julius snorted at her, "Why don't you come to me for once?"_

 _Jessica rolled her eyes at him, "Did you ever think that maybe I'm not running from you? Have you ever thought that maybe it's your own damn self keeping you away from me?" She raised her eyebrows at him, "Are you going to man up, or are you going to just keep waiting around for me to come to you?"_

 _Julius looked at the beauty in front of him, separated by only the edges of a bookcase. Her crystal-blue eyes stared into his brown eyes directly, challenging him._

 _He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, willing his nerves away. She always had this effect on him. After a moment, he nodded determinedly. "I'm going to man up." he said, suddenly gaining confidence, "You're right, Jess, I've gotta start doing things."_

 _She smiled at him sweetly. Neither of them made a move from their respective sides of the bookshelf._

 _Soon, Julius thought, Soon._

Nick looked up from the journal at Jess, thinking maybe he could steal a glance at her. She lifted her head and her eyes met his at the same moment. She gave him a small smile at him, her blue eyes squinting a bit and her cheeks turning a light shade of pink as she let out a little giggle.

Nick smiled back at her and immediately put his head back down into his journal, his heart speeding up a bit. He let out a shaky breath, trying not to let Jess see the effect she had on him.

 _Maybe this year won't be as easy as I thought._


End file.
